ONE of the suspects facing charges in the main Caprivi high treason trial has lost the case in which he was suing the Ministers of Home Affairs and of Defence for N$550 000 for allegedly having been unlawfully arrested and assaulted in August 1999.
Britan Simisho Lielezo (33) has been kept in custody since being arrested in the Caprivi Region on August 27 1999 - some three and a half weeks after armed separatists had staged surprise attacks against Government-related targets at Katima Mulilo.
Following his arrest, and the widely-publicised assaults that security force members committed against people who were detained in the wake of the secessionist attacks, Lielezo was one of the high treason accused who later sued the ministers responsible for the Namibian Police and the Namibia Defence Force.
In a claim that was filed with the High Court in July 2000, Lielezo sued the Ministers of Home Affairs - at that stage responsible for the Namibian Police - and the Minister of Defence for N$250 000 for having allegedly been arrested and detained unlawfully, and for an additional N$300 000 for having allegedly been assaulted during and after his arrest.
Lielezo's claim was dismissed with costs by Judge Collins Parker on Wednesday last week.
In a judgement handed down in the High Court, Judge Parker found that it had neither been proven that Lielezo's arrest had been unlawful, nor that he had been assaulted at the time of his arrest or thereafter.
Judge Parker heard testimony on Lielezo's claim in early October last year.
During the trial, Lielezo claimed he could not understand or speak English, that he was not informed of his rights at the time of his arrest, and that the people who arrested him also did not identify themselves to him.
Six witnesses who testified on behalf of the two ministers disputed this evidence from Lielezo. These witnesses - Police officers and a prison officer and nurse from Grootfontein Prison, where Lielezo was later detained - all told the court that they and Lielezo communicated with each other in English.
In view of the totality of the overwhelming evidence on the issue, Judge Parker said in his judgement, he had no hesitation in finding that Lielezo lied to the court when he said he could not read, speak or understand English.
"I must, with the greatest deference, say that the plaintiff has only succeeded in fooling his legal representatives with this moronic mendacity; but he had been unsuccessful in that regard with this court," Judge Parker stated. He said he had no doubt that the Police officers who arrested Lielezo did not act on a whim, but had good reason for arresting him, and that the arresting officer had promptly informed him in English of the grounds for his arrest.
"The plaintiff, in my view, is a stranger to the truth," Judge Parker commented on Lielezo's testimony on his arrest.
On the alleged assault on Lielezo, his legal representative, Legal Assistance Centre lawyer Lynita Conradie, urged Judge Parker to bear in mind that a Police officer would not easily - if at all - admit assaulting suspects.
Judge Parker responded that it must also be borne in mind that a plaintiff in Lielezo's shoes would also strenuously say that he had been assaulted by members of the Namibian Police and other law enforcement or security agents, even if he had not been assaulted, if he knew he could gain a substantial amount of money in damages from the State.
When Lielezo's case was first filed with the High Court, he claimed the assault on him included him being beaten with sjamboks.
In February last year, though, his claim was amended, and Lielezo no longer claimed that he had been beaten with sjamboks as well. He continued to claim he had been beaten with batons, kicked, punched and slapped, and that his hands were tied behind his back with wire.
During the trial Lielezo added that he had also been forced to sit on a hot place in the bakkie in which he was transported to Katima Mulilo after his arrest.
He claimed he experienced excruciating pain and sustained burns as a result.
Discrepancies between Lielezo's amended claim and his testimony in court put his credibility in a bad light, Judge Parker remarked.
Police officers who testified in the trial denied that Lielezo had been assaulted.
Lielezo told the court that when he first arrived at Katima Mulilo Police Station after his arrest, he had a bleeding wound on his left ear and was also bleeding from his one arm and a leg. The Police officer who booked him in at the Police station however told the court that he did not see any such injuries.
No injuries were noticed either by the prison officer who booked Lielezo in at Grootfontein Prison two days after his arrest, the court was told.
Judge Parker concluded that the version of the defendants' witnesses on the material aspects of the case could be accepted as possible true. He however rejected Lielezo's version as possibly false, with the result that Lielezo's claim was dismissed.
The two ministers were represented by George Coleman, on instructions from the Government Attorney.
Lielezo's claim is the third such damages claim by suspects in the high treason trial to be dismissed in the High Court.
Another two claims were dismissed by Judge Louis Muller in early April last year.
Twenty-four similar claims against Government have been settled out of court, 88 claims are still pending, and 11 claims are partly heard or awaiting judgement.Treason accused loses assault claim case
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